Democrat Andrew Gillum lost his bid to become Florida's first black governor, suffering a razor-thin defeat to Republican Ron DeSantis in a racially charged contest that drew national attention.

'We'll worry about history later, but today, we're working to win, ' said, who would become the first black governor of a state that has seen racial strife should he win.

In a state where Republicans have controlled the governor's mansion since Jeb Bush was inaugurated in 1999, DeSantis pledged to continue the low-tax, reduced-regulation policies of Gov. Rick Scott, who could not seek re-election because of term limits and on Tuesday night was poised to oust Democratic Sen. In an emotional speech, Gillum apologized to his supporters. "We recognize that, you know, we didn't win it tonight", he told supporters.

"Just want to say, earlier this hour we showed a graphic of the Florida gubernatorial race".

Gilllum said he called DeSantis and congratulated him.

In Colorado, Democrat Jared Polis was set to become the first openly gay man to be elected governor of a U.S. state, after NBC News projected him to win against Republican Walker Stapleton.

DeSantis ran a largely negative campaign, calling Gillum a socialist and saying he oversaw one of the most corrupt and crime-ridden cities in the state.

DeSantis stumbled out of the gate after winning the August 28 primary, telling Fox News that voters shouldn't "monkey this up" by electing Gillum, who was Florida's first black nominee for governor.

This race was supposed to be a blueprint for how Democrats could pull left on economics and cultural issues and win in swing states.

DeSantis used Trump's backing to make the case that if he is elected, the state will be in a better position to receive support from Washington, D.C., in contrast to Gillum who has called for the impeachment of the president.

But DeSantis, who stepped down from his Northeast Florida congressional seat in September, said "a lot of our super voters have yet to vote", referring to loyal Republicans who have voted in the last three or four elections. Democrats ran up the score in South Florida and the Tallahassee region, while narrowly eking out an advantage among Orlando-area early voters. Gillum said the FBI assured him he was not the target of the investigation, but documents released in October placed him close to the action. The FBI is probing whether developers were able to influence projects in the city by funneling gifts to elected officials.